Child sex inquiry QC's suspension 'is closely linked' to the departure of his deputy, senior source reveals

• e-mail

Ben Emmerson (pictured) was suspended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse last week after it became ‘very concerned about aspects of his leadership’ and he then resigned

The shock suspension of the top barrister in the troubled child abuse inquiry is closely linked to the departure of his deputy, a senior source close to the investigation has revealed.

Ben Emmerson was suspended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse last week after it became ‘very concerned about aspects of his leadership’, and resigned soon after.

It then emerged that junior counsel to Britain’s biggest public inquiry, Elizabeth Prochaska, had quietly left her post a fortnight earlier.

Last night insiders told The Mail on Sunday that the two departures, which plunged the investigation into fresh chaos, were closely linked.

‘It is no coincidence that Ben’s suspension comes so soon after Elizabeth’s resignation, that’s what this is about,’ said one source.

The source indicated that behind the scenes, there had been a breakdown in the relationship between the top lawyers. And they added that Alexis Jay, the fourth person to chair the inquiry, will soon have to reveal the truth of their departures to MPs.

‘Everything that has happened will come out when this matter next goes before the Home Affairs Select Committee. The head of the inquiry will have to account for why Ben was suspended and then later offered his resignation.’

Mrs Jay is due to go before the Committee on October 18.

Mr Emmerson, 53, had been a key figure in the investigation set up by Theresa May in 2014 to look into allegations of VIP paedophile rings and establishment cover-ups, which will cost at least £100 million and could last a decade.

Elizabeth Prochaska, (pictured) had quietly left her post a fortnight earlier, and a source has revealed there had been a breakdown in the relationship between the top lawyers

Appointed after original chairman Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down over perceived conflicts of interest, he remained in place when replacement chairman Dame Fiona Woolf left and survived accusations that he had bullied abuse campaigners.

The acclaimed human rights barrister continued working behind the scenes when Dame Lowell Goddard became the third chairman, and he was paid a staggering £408,000 in the past financial year.

But not long after Goddard’s dramatic resignation, Mr Emmerson also left the inquiry in mysterious circumstances. He was suspended on Wednesday after claims first emerged that he was planning to leave, and the following day he was allowed to resign. In a letter to Alexis Jay, Mr Emmerson wrote: ‘I shall be sad to leave the inquiry, as I have been involved in this process longer than anyone else.

‘It is now time for someone else to take the helm with a different leadership of the counsel team.’

He added: ‘There is no truth in suggestions that I have resigned due to a difference of opinion with you about the next steps for the inquiry.’

Last night a spokesman for the inquiry declined to comment on the reasons behind his departure. The spokesman said Mr Emmerson was staying until November, and there were 20 other barristers and seven solicitors working on the inquiry.

Miss Prochaska, 35, had only been appointed as junior counsel to the inquiry this year after the departure in December of Hugh Davies, QC, who is understood to have clashed with Mr Emmerson.

Mr Emmerson, 53, (pictured) had been a key figure in the investigation set up by Theresa May in 2014 to look into allegations of VIP paedophile rings and establishment cover-ups, which will cost at least £100 million and could last a decade

She declined to comment on her reasons for leaving last night.

Some barristers who had been working on a part of the inquiry looking at Lord Janner, including Abigail Bright and Alexandra Felix, have been stood down while police and the police watchdog carry out investigations into the late Labour peer.

The inquiry will not hear any evidence until February next year.

James Berry MP, a barrister who sits on the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘Clearly the departures of counsel to the inquiry will be disappointing for survivors and I look forward to the swift appointment of a replacement. It would be helpful for Alexis Jay to come before the committee to update us on the direction of travel.’

Witness of VIP paedophile ring: Met Police fed my evidence of abuse to other 'victims'

Witness Darren: Police are investigating claims that witness accounts in the botched VIP paedophile ring inquiry became ‘cross-contaminated’ because ‘victims’ borrowed elements from each other’s accounts

Police are investigating claims that witness accounts in the botched VIP paedophile ring inquiry became ‘cross-contaminated’ because ‘victims’ borrowed elements from each other’s accounts.

The allegation comes from a crucial witness known as Darren, who has told The Mail on Sunday that striking details in his own statement were recycled in those of other witnesses. The police, he said, failed to stop this happening.

The result, he said, is that police had no means of knowing whether two similar statements corroborated each other – or were merely the product of an ‘echo chamber’, in which witnesses only appeared to be saying the same things because their stories had a common source.

The disastrous VIP inquiry, Operation Midland, was axed in March, after failing to charge anyone. In the meantime, names of numerous innocent supposed abusers had been publicised, including the late Lord Janner; the late Prime Minister Ted Heath; former Tory MP Harvey Proctor; and Field Marshall Lord Bramall. A report into the fiasco by Sir Richard Henriques is due on Thursday and is expected to be critical of the Metropolitan Police.

Last night, the Met confirmed that allegations by Darren of police incompetence and misconduct are being investigated by the force’s internal affairs division, the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS). ‘I can confirm the DPS has received a complaint alleging investigative failings by officers,’ a Met spokeswoman said. Darren’s revelations will add to the pressure on the beleaguered £100 million Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

It was claims that VIP paedophiles had operated with impunity around Westminster – aired in the Commons by Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson – that prompted Mrs May to set the inquiry up.

It was claims that VIP paedophiles had operated with impunity around Westminster which was aired in the Commons by Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson (pictured)

Darren, whose own credibility has been questioned, is a married father in his early-40s. His most serious recent allegations to police involve Esther Baker, an alleged abuse victim who has waived her right to anonymity by giving TV interviews. The CPS has still to make a decision on her case which centres on claims against a former Midlands MP.

In the spring of 2013, Darren contacted child abuse ‘survivor’ groups and told of quasi-Satanic abuse he said he suffered at Rendlesham Forest, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He told of being ‘trafficked’ to Dolphin Square. Over the months, he said, he shared details of these ordeals with various specialists and experts, including The Lantern Project, run by Graham Wilmer in Liverpool. In April 2014, Darren even gave an interview to a local paper and a series of interviews to reporters from the now-defunct website, Exaro News. More than a year later, in May 2015, Esther Baker appeared on TV saying she too had been part of a group of children who had been sexually abused in a forest, with police officers present. But she was talking about a different place altogether in Staffordshire.

There were marked similarities between Darren’s story and hers. Both spoke of ‘symbols’ being drawn on their bodies. Both also said they had been ‘trafficked’ to Dolphin Square. Meanwhile, Ms Baker had contact with at least two of the institutions to whom Darren had given his story – Exaro News and The Lantern Project.

Darren said that Exaro put him in touch with Ms Baker. In Twitter conversations, seen by this newspaper, she admits she has a ‘hell of a lot of missing time’ in her memory. Ms Baker dismissed Darren’s claims, saying: ‘The officers I dealt with never once shared information with me from other victims.’